When I completed my first watch of Arrested Development Season 4 I was certain “Borderline Personalities” and “Indian Takers” scored 1A and 1B in the weakest episode rankings. Not only do they both come early in the season and are burdened with laying a lot of expository groundwork, but they also feature members of the Bluth family I find the least compelling and prefer in complimentary roles. That being said, upon second watch I have upgraded “Indian Takers” to the second weakest position (!).

This installment is of course more delightful the second go round, primarily because there are so many call-forwards (especially to the Tobias and Maeby episodes) that were impossible to appreciate on first watch. Also because there’s just so much more Bluth family interaction (what “Borderline Personalities” was sorely missing).

Before we jump into “everything you may have missed” I’d like to make note that while I’ve listed some of the slightly less obvious call-forwards (really enjoying this term) I’ll leave the Tobias in India sightings and the Shaman’s true identity (which I think everyone caught initially) to your own second watch. I also won’t be commenting on Portia’s “new look” other than I think a lot of the weirdness is in part the result of the extensions or whatever sort of hairpiece she is wearing. Once she goes “even cuter” she looks A+ to me.

Balboa Bay Window’s “Proposition Ape.” Can’t speak for everyone, but first time around I was so busy I reading the headline and description I didn’t catch Buster’s gorilla suit crop top (?). Also I forget how great the magazine tagline is.

♪No it’s just a phallus, see♪ Sure, having your ambiguously gay husband sing a made up showtune right after you claim your life is a fallacy is good joke, but mix in the idea that Tobias is singing a penis pun and you’ve got a great joke.

“Stay in your lane anus tart!” One of my favorite call-forwards of the season, mainly because they give you nothing but the lines from Lindsay and the cabbie.

“Anything under a small is considered a David Spade.” It’s funny because David Spade is little. Rebel also makes mention of her David Spade later on.

Ostriches everywhere. Not only does Lindsay see the first ostrich after her consultation, but the Shaman also tells her to pull her head out of the sand AND the name of the Indian city Lindsay travels to, Shuturmurg, is Hindu for “ostrich.”

if you look at photos from the premiere, Portia has clearly had some botox, maybe a little collagen, but her nose DOES NOT look like it did on the show. Given all the comments they make about the nose job, I think THAT was done for the show.

So apparently most people don’t like Marky Bark, I personally don’t mind him, but I gotta give them this: Marky Bark is friends with the people at the Method One Clinic who are junkies, making him Marky Bark and the Junkie Bunch, which I thought was one of several pretty brilliant Entourage references.

Ok, I haven’t really seen anyone else mention it, but am I the only one that was bothered by Marky Bark being seemingly completely oblivious to voices? I mean, not recognizing someone because you have face-blindness is one thing, but when you are having a conversation with a guy and you don’t realize it’s not your girlfriend, that’s a little….lazy?

He says that “usually you can tell with the voices, but some guys… they’ll fool you if they really want to.” Which I guess is why he doesn’t realize that Tobias isn’t Lindsay. I don’t know if he confuses any other guys for Lindsay

I actually liked this episode quite a bit the first time. It has my wife’s favorite gag from this season in it when Lindsay and Marky Bark are discussing the serendipity that brought them together and the singing in the background is “Coooooooincidence”.

I really wasn’t a fan of Marky Bark at all. It was too much Marky Bark. They should have gotten someone better. That guy was the love child of Paul Rudd and Mark Duplass, only the kid got their worst qualities.

Could the Ostrich thing be in part a reference to back in season one when Lindsay was talking about her philanthropy and Michael called her on her Ostrich boots, to which she replied “I don’t care for Ostriches”

That was amazing, being able to hear GOB talking to George Michael and not finding out what for and then in Gob’s episode hearing the last little bits of Tobias’s song when GOB is “reflecting” on life.

If you could help figure out where one and two work their way into the credits, I’d appreciate that. We have Officer Three in Episode 5 and Minni Fourgerer in episode 10, and since this is Arrested Development, I assume these numbers mean something, somehow, somewhere.

I had no idea Maeby was the Shaman. I knew it was someone in makeup (though I wasn’t sure if it was a Bluth or Funke), but definitely someone I recognized. I was looking and trying to place who it was but couldn’t put my finger on it. Then when I saw the poster for Gangie on the Ganges I kind of figured it must have been Maeby.

The second time watching it is amazing to pay closer attention to all the things in the background. Like when Marky Bark offers hotel soaps in trade, then I notice there is a sign that says they won’t take soaps anymore. Then you can overhear the check in guy at the restaurant saying it later in the episode.

I think the 2 George/Lindsay/Tobias episodes had to be first up with Michael and GOB providing some relief. While they were funny, I think they weren’t up to snuff with the last 5 or 6 because they were laying groundwork and if they were the last 5 episodes to get to in the binge, everyone would have been like AD started great but ended poorly with the George/Lindsay/Tobias block

Am I the only one that thinks Lindsay with plastic surgery and her new haircut looks hot as hell? Helps that she’s willing to sleep with dirty strangers that live with their mom. I’m just saying I’m available Lindsay, and I care about social issues too.

I can’t remember if it’s this one or the second Lindsay episode where Lucille and George tear into her new face. I think George says something about it falling off with anymore work. At least they didn’t shy away from the actor looking different where most of the adult principles didn’t look much different from 7 years ago

I feel like the whole Lindsey becoming Lucille fits with the theme of change ( roles being swapped this season) We saw it with Micheal, we saw it with George/Oscar and theres alot of instances of it in future episodes.

Even with the adoption, she has most definitely been always been a Bluth despite her best efforts. Knowing about the adoption hasn’t helped things for Lindsay at all, especially that by the end of the season she is Lucille.

After driving Andy deep into the heart of Hatesville and providing nonstop reactionary shrieks in those last couple of Hangover movies it was REALLY nice to see Ed Helms steal our hearts again as James “I Don’t Sell Cars” Carr

There’s something about Marky Bark that just didn’t sit right with me. I kept wishing he was played by someone different. And as much as I liked Maria Bamford’s performance, they gave her a bit too much screentime for a supporting character.

I immediately knew it was Maeby, come on! I’m not even to Maeby’s episode yet, so I sweear I’m telling the truth. The face paint looked so terrible that I immediately looked closer. And the shaman kept saying something like “anyone else? or anything else?” that Lindsay needed to get back to, which is totally in line with Maeby’s relationship with Lindsay.